Arizona Diamondbacks 9, Colorado Rockies 5

The D-backs played small ball through the early innings, scoring one run in each of the opening trio. A.J. Pollock got us on the board before an out was recorded with an RBI single in the first; Taijuan Walker legged out an infield RBI single in the second; and J.D. Martinez added a sacrifice fly in the third. Rey Fuentes drove in our fourth run off the bench in the sixth, but it was a five-run seventh that broke the game open, thanks largely to another hit off the bench, a three-run homer by Daniel Descalso.

After a shaky first where he left the bases loaded, Walker gave the team five shutout innings, allowing three hits and three walks with ten strikeouts. But the bullpen was, again, a source of some concern: Colorado scored two in the sixth, then three in the seventh to pull within grand-slam distance. Archie Bradley settled the nerves with a scoreless eighth, and Fernando Rodney closed things out in the ninth.

We’re 4.5 games up on the Rockies, who are now only 1.5 up on the Brewers...